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Radical parties in new European Parliament to complicate ties with Turkey: analyst of European Policy Centre

The presence of radical anti-Islamic parties in the new European Parliament will not affect the relations with the countries in the EU Eastern Partnership, but may complicate Turkey's entrance to the Union, a leading European analyst Antonio Missiroli said.

"I don't think that it will affect directly relations with Azerbaijan and other countries in Eastern Partnership. One of the potential consequences of these elections is that for instance there will be less appetite for enlargement and even less appetite for the Turkish membership in the EU," Missiroli, Director of Studies at European Policy Centre, told Trend in a telephone conversation from Brussels.

As a result of the European Parliament elections, held on June 4-7 in 27 EU countries, the representatives of the radical right-wing parties gained seats in the Parliament.

Presently the right-wing parties made a breakthrough in the Netherlands, where anti-Islamic Geert Wilders' Freedom Party gained 17 percent of the votes. The party has a very rigid position not only on the foreign migrants, but also on Islam. Wilders is the author of scandalous film "Fitna" about the dangers of Islamization of Europe.

The party also has great suspicions on the process of European integration, considering the EU a threat to the sovereignty of European national states.

"People have been tired of the current European Union and Turkey's possible entrance into it," said Wilders, Vesti reported.

Radical Austrian Freedom Party also showed an abnormally high result of 13.1 percent. For the first time, several seats in the European Parliament were gained by the nationalist and radical forces in Romania, Hungary, Bulgaria and Slovakia. In total, the radical wing of the Parliament can make up approximately eight percent.

During the pre-election campaign, the Austrian Freedom Party declared readiness to cooperate with the Italian North League - both parties reject the establishment of a "European super state and take a negative position on the building of mosques and Islamic schools in Western Europe.

With regards to Turkey's membership to the EU, Missiroli said that all the political parties that most opposed the Turkish membership in the EU did well. It is the national-democratic party in Germany, Golist party in France, Christian democrats in the Netherlands, Popular party in Austria.

Negotiations on Turkey's entrance to the EU started in 2005. The EU has repeatedly demanded Turkey to accelerate democratic reforms envisaged in the negotiation process, threatening to freeze the negotiations. In reply, Ankara stated adherence to integration into the European Union and intention to actively conduct reforms.

There is no threat of significant influence of radical forces, said Missiroli. They don't represent the single, unified, centralized, coordinated party that is present everywhere in the European Union. Some of them are liberal, some are authoritarian, some are protectionist, some are nationalistic.

"The fact that they are so nationalist makes it difficult for them to operate as a super national party in the European Parliament. So, I wouldn't be concerned about their weight in the new European Parliament," Missiroli said.